What You Learn In Louisiana

Gov. Bobby Jindal's new voucher program in Louisiana will use taxpayer money to fund a private education for a number of students in the state. That means expanding the scope of religion-infused curricula, some of which is nothing short of laughable – especially when the A Beka Book line (out of Pensacola Christian College) and Bob Jones University Press textbooks are involved. At Mother Jones, Deanna Pan summarizes the situation and lists the 14 best/worst items found in the A Beka/Bob Jones resources. My favorite involves the existence of dragons:

"[Is] it possible that a fire-breathing animal really existed? Today some scientists are saying yes. They have found large chambers in certain dinosaur skulls…The large skull chambers could have contained special chemical-producing glands. When the animal forced the chemicals out of its mouth or nose, these substances may have combined and produced fire and smoke." – Life Science, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2007